CNN.com Live launched as a free service in 2007 to replace the paid web service CNN Pipeline, which failed to gather many subscribers. Up till today, it had its own staff of anchors completely separate from the cable TV channel.

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I followed up with Mitchell in the green room to ask about the layoffs, and he said that CNN is in no way pulling away from online video. However, linear, anchor-led broadcasts are more appropriate for television than for the web. He emphasized that CNN.com is all about web video, citing its recent redesign.

Mitchell said CNN expects to expand its coverage of major live events, which is exactly what we’d just been talking about onstage. A memo obtained by WebNewser said CNN expects to hire seven original video production staff by the end of the year.

When I interviewed him along with Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg this afternoon, Mitchell said to expect a major collaboration between the two companies next year around an event they hope will rival the success of the Obama inauguration, which had 1.3 million simultaneous viewers at peak and 25 million total streams on CNN.com’s live feed accompanied by Facebook status messages. He and Zuckerberg declined to provide further details about the project.

The writing’s on the wall. Over the last 6 months we’ve watched the steady decline of this once mighty station shedding some of the best talents in the business while continuing to suck up to the Obama Administration. Only Larry King, Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper are left, but for how long? The loss of CNN 30-yr anchor Lou Dobbs was the last straw. I was shocked to hear how his life and that of his family were threatened because he dared speak out against the illegals. America is going to the dogs, especially with Obama in charge.God help America!